20110221

The uprisings are going on in the Middle East - Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Morocco, Jordan - the people in this country will hopefully get what they desire and the unscrupulous leaders will meet their profitable extinction.

But now imagine being a child in one of these countries - current and future generations of children will be enslaved into learning and relearning new material - forever.

With the new found freedom there will be massive updates in the text books for these kids - listing below

1) History - (the worst and most effected)- Now kids will have to learn and remember the names of all these leaders - Muammar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali etc etc.- Also will have to remember the names of people in alliance to these leaders- Besides there will be a whole list of martyrs, fellow citizens like Wael Ghonim and others to be remembered- And if this is not enough - there will be a list of specific dates, events etc that they will have to cram up

2) Geography - For now it is safe but if there is shuffling of boundaries or division of countries then that is a whole new load of before and after they have to remember

3) Civics or Social Science- With the new wave will come a new form of government - Democracy, Social Republic or maybe Communist - so they will have to learn the structures of the government, role of each official, powers of the judiciary vs state etc etc.

4) Maths and Sciences-Here I don't see a lot of changes - maybe I am missing something.

5) Religion and Philosophy- Obvious changes in the way Islam or any other religion is currently interpreted and how it should be really interpreted in the new world.

6) Literature and Languages- Here also there will be substantial changes- New Poems and Prose depicting the whole era- Maybe some foreign language added to the curriculam

Purists might argue that this is a good thing - that the children will learn something worthwhile.

But I argue that even in these so called educated countries of the world there are Bushes, Palins, Kalmadis, Berlusconis, Mubaraks and many other dim-wits -

Did they bunk school?Or they really did not learn anything?Or is school education and the ways of learning also need a complete upheaval?

I dread to be that "school going kid" again.

Here is a beautiful quote -

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. ~Rabindranath Tagore

20110211

Following up on my last Blog about Journalism:2 -the social network has brought about a big Change.

Today marks a great day in the current History of the world where the uprisings and revolts in Tunisia, Egypt and now currently undergoing in Jordan will mark a substantial change in the lives of the people from these countries.

I am not remotely related to any of these countries but the family from where I buy my breakfast is Egyptian and one of my barber was Jordanian - so somehow I feel a part of all this.

Just like the car brought about the Industrial Revolution in the early part of the 20th Century - Computer and technology have brought about major changes to the way we have been perceiving the world. This truly will go down in the history books as a revolutionary period - it has leveled the playing field for the world - the work can be done anywhere anytime - there is no one super power left - big countries are no longer a threat - downtrodden and poor people have a say and are forcing their rights - the rights that one should not be fighting for as we all are born free.

There are many more changes that we will see and some of it are predictions that I feel can happen -

- Chinese currency could become the currency for the world- Civil war or internal revolt is a possibility in the United States where disparity between the rich and poor is increasing day by day.- Youth of the two countries India and Pakistan can come together and solve the border issues - a far out possibility but can happen

Lastly the truly remarkable truth of the revolution in Egypt are following the Gandhian principles of Intolerance, Non Violence and Persistence. Am not sure if Egyptians followed it or no but it worked.

In Mahatma's own words -“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Be persistent. In time the opposition around you will fade and fall away. And your inner resistance and self-sabotaging tendencies that want to hold you back and keep you like you have always been will grow weaker.